Disaster hit close to the Bliss home here in Central Florida. At least one tornado (and possibly 4 others) touched down and did a considerable amount of damage. At least 20 people are dead, thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, one church destroyed (the Church of God in the Villages), and who knows how many cars and trucks by the F3 tornado. The Church of God church building was built to withstand winds of 150 mph. Apparently this tornado exceeded this building's ability to handle high winds.
This coming Tuesday members from the area churches of Christ will meet at the Leesburg Church of Christ to unload a truck that will arrive from the Disaster Relief Effort (click here) in Nashville, TN. This organization provides a variety of items for such a time as this. I'm looking forward to helping out and seeing this organization (and our local congregations) in action.
Our family from California and several from the Tabernacle congregation (and some from the Randolph congregation) called or emailed to see if we were okay. This destructive force hit only a few miles from our home. We slept through most of it. The storm woke us up about 4:30 AM but had been raging since before 3:00 AM. At the time we didn't know a tornado had touched down. I think we will be getting one of those weather alert radios for future use.
All of this brings up a question in my mind. We in modern times tend to downplay God's role in the destructive side of events like this but praise him for his protective role. In other words we are glad that God protected us from the storm but we hesitate to claim that he may have caused the storm. Why is that? We know that he can and does cause disasters to happen. In the Old Testament many of the disasters were used to discipline Israel. The faithful in Israel saw God in all that happened even the storms (Psalm 29). Even though we can't today claim to know what God is doing in the storm (because we have no prophet to tell us) we can still know that he is in charge even of the storm and its destructive force. James tells us to rejoice when trials occurs (Jas.1:2). The problem to me is that we haven't defined very well what is good and what is bad. We think that damage and destruction from a storm is bad but if the storm misses us that is good. Maybe we need to rethink our definition of bad and good, at least in regards to disasters.
We are quick to downplay any active role on God's part in a disaster but quick to play up his active role in protection. Is it because when bad things happen we believe God is in a punishing mode and we don't want to believe that he could be punishing us (or those around us)? As Job asked his wife, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:9 NASU) What shall we think about disasters and God's role in them? Maybe we haven't seen the good that can come from disasters.
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5 comments:
Very interesting. I meant to comment on this when I first read it but forgot to. (Since I have bloglines & I don't usually read posts from the actual sites, sometimes I forget to head over to the blog sites & comment there)
I think it's a very difficult thing for us to admit that God might be punishing or disciplining us for some reason. I know I, for one, don't like to be disciplined by anyone!. And it would be hard to tell someone that a tornado came through their town and killed several of their friends or loved ones as a punishment.
Which are you suggesting ... that we not thank God for protecting us against disaster, or that we thank God for bringing disaster?
And, just in case it sounds like I am, I am not arguing with you. Just clarifying & trying to dive in to this question with you.
I don't think that we can say a disaster is punishment from God in this day and age. The reason why the Israelites knew that some disaster (i.e. an earthquake or locust plague) was punishment was because a prophet, moved by the Holy Spirit, told them. We don't have prophets today so we could only speculate as to the reason why something happens. James tells us that we should rejoice when trials come our way because we grow in the midst of the trials (Jas.1:2-4). So I'm suggesting that we reconfigure the way we look at disasters. Instead of looking at them as a bad circumstance we should look at them as a good circumstance because of the growth possibilities. Plus we often in the midst of a disaster look at the bright side, "It could have been worse." We play up God's active role in protecting us from a worse circumstance. But if God is able to actively protect us from worse circumstances why not save us from the bad circumstance altogether? So why not acknowledge that God might have been actively involved in the circumstance from the beginning and see it as an opportunity to grow? Does that clarify my position?
Well, sorta. You just said that you don't think God brings disaster, but then you said we should acknowledge that God might have been actively involved in it and see it as an opportunity to grow?
I didn't say I don't think God brings disasters, I said I don't think we can say that God brings disasters today in terms of a punishment for some sin. I said when disasters happen today that we can't know what the reason is like the Israelites who may have had a prophet tell them that some disaster was to punish them. Instead I think disasters should be viewed by us as opportunities for growth and thus as something good. I was musing (?) about why people today think God is actively protecting them in the midst of the disaster but not actively causing the disaster, which could be an opportunity to grow. I think the reason for that is that we think of disasters as a form of punishment and not an opportunity to grow. It's a tough subject and one I think about every time there is a disaster close by.
I hope this comment goes through.
I do not believe God causes one person to get cancer in order for him/her to grow and not give it to another person who might also need to grow. I believe we should give thanks to God for good things and bad that He will provide the way we can escape the temptation to turn from Him. In all things give thanks! Jeanne
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